The invention relates to apparatus for mounting flail members on a drum adapted for rotation about its longitudinal axis and more particularly to improved means which eliminates excessive wear between the drum and the means attaching the flail member to the drum.
As is well known in the art to which our invention relates, many devices have been proposed for attaching the inner ends of flail delimber members to a rotary drum. For example, one method of attaching the inner end of flail members to a drum has been to weld spaced apart lugs directly to the wall of the flail drum and then mount the inner end of a member, such as a flail chain, by means of a bolt or pin between the lugs. Difficulties have been encountered with this method of attaching the flail member to the drum due to the fact that during normal use of the apparatus, the lugs, pins, and/or bolts are beaten and so badly distorted that removal and replacement of the chains is very difficult.
Another method of attaching flail members to a drum has been to insert a straight link chain through an elongated slot in the flail drum and then pass an elongated rod through the link chain to thus secure the flail chain in place. The problem with this design is that the chains rub against the wall of the flail drum and greatly enlarge the slots therein. Also, as this wear occurs, the chains are permitted to rotate on the retaining rods. This rotation causes slots to be worn in the rod of the same width as the width of the chain.
Another method of attaching a flail member to a rotary drum has been to employ a ring chain which is installed on a clevis shaped retainer which is installed loosely through a slot in the flail drum and is then secured in place by a rod which passes through the clevis. Problems have been encountered with this design similar to the problems mentioned above since the clevis retainers enlarge the slots in the flail drum, thus allowing the retainers to pivot on the rods whereby the rods are worn by the loose engagement with the clevis retainers.
The following patents show prior art type apparatus: U.S. Pat. No. 2,792,860, U.S. Pat. No. 2,831,317 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,893,451, and French Pat. No. 1,360,289.